Rail ride to Chandigarh from Delhi in 50 mins flat?

Dwaipayan Ghosh, TNNApr 4, 2008, 01.02pm IST

NEW DELHI: Imagine reaching Chandigarh after a only a 50-minute train ride. If the Indian Railways are to be believed, this might soon be possible. The railways have released the 'request for proposal' (RFP) for the appointment of a consultant for pre-feasibility study on the construction of the High Speed Rail Corridor between Delhi and Amritsar through Chandigarh. The RFP, released on Tuesday, states that '' the need of the hour is faster movement of both passenger and goods.

In the case of passenger traffic, the boom in the airline sector... reflects upon the premium paid to the shorter transit times between cities. A high speed passenger railway system will thus usher in a new transport product... and also fill up a vacuum in the current passenger scenario.''

According to officials, the consultant will prepare a report to evaluate the financial viability and technical feasibility of construction, maintenance and management of facilities on the corridor. It will be built through public private partnership .'' We have fixed on April 24 for our prebid conference and the proposal due date will be May 5. The letter of award will be given within the next 40 days,''said a ministry official.

According to railway officials , once the high speed corridor is operational, it will allow trains to travel as fast as 250-300 kilometres per hour. '' Our system will become comparable with the best in the world. At present, the Rajdhanis and Shatabdis have a maximum speed of around 110-120 kilometres per hour. The fastest train in India, the Bhopal Shatabdi, has a maximum speed of only 150 kilometres per hour. We now have to change the existing tracks and import new coaches that can run on such tracks,'' added the official.

The official said that the project needed to involve private players as the cost was too high. The railways have also received the green signal from state governments that will chip in. Other corridors in the pipeline are Pune-Mumbai- Ahmedabad and Chennai-Bangalore-Coimbatore-Ernakulum and Howrah-Haldia . Officials have also warned of the existing fares almost being tripled.